DEVELOPMENT REPORT – Helping Children After the Tsunami

DEVELOPMENT REPORT – Helping¹ Children After the Tsunami²
By Jill Moss³

Broadcast: Monday, January 10, 2005

I'm Gwen Outen with the VOA Special English Development Report.

Aid officials are working to help the youngest victims of the December twenty-sixth earthquake and tsunami waves in the Indian Ocean.

The United Nations Children's Fund estimates that one and one-half million children were affected⁴ in South Asia. UNICEF says many have lost their parents or been separated from their families. The agency has estimated that more than one-third of the dead were children.

Last week UNICEF appealed for more than one hundred forty million dollars to assist what it calls the "tsunami generation." The request was part of a larger United Nations appeal made Thursday in Jakarta.

UNICEF says money is needed for immunization campaigns to prevent disease. Clean drinking water and special feedings for children and pregnant women are also needed. Another aim is to repair schools, so children can return to classes as soon as possible.

The head of UNICEF says children must also be protected from criminal groups. Carol Bellamy warned that children are at risk of being kidnapped for slavery in the sex trade or forced labor⁵. She praised actions taken by the government of Indonesia in heavily damaged Aceh.

Adoptions⁷ of children are now banned in that province. The government also has barred children under the age of sixteen from leaving Aceh except with their parents.

 
AP Photo
UNICEF is setting up camps in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and the other countries affected by the tsunami. Workers will try to reunite children with their parents, extended families and communities. The first step is to identify children who are alone.

Some Western families have offered to adopt children whose parents died in the tsunami. But policies in the affected countries, as well as their own nations, may prevent that at least for now.

The American State Department says any adoptions are probably many months away. It says adoption⁶ professionals believe children in a crisis should be kept as close to their family members and community as possible.

The State Department deplored⁸ reports of sex crimes, kidnapping and trafficking in persons in the affected countries. A spokesman said there have been enough reports to see a real danger and the need for quick action. He said officials were "horrified⁹ that thousands of children orphaned¹⁰ by this disaster" are at risk from criminals "who seek to profit from their misery¹¹."

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss. I'm Gwen Outen.

1 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

2 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

3 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

7 adoptions   

n.采用，收养( adoption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Adoption agencies are always so open to alternative family adoptions. 领养中介机构永远都对领养家庭敞开。 来自电影对白
• The number of adoptions has grown in the past year. 去年，收养子女的数字增加了。 来自互联网

8 deplored   

v.悲叹，痛惜，强烈反对( deplore的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They deplored the price of motor car, textiles, wheat, and oil. 他们悲叹汽车、纺织品、小麦和石油的价格。 来自辞典例句
• Hawthorne feels that all excess is to be deplored. 霍桑觉得一切过分的举动都是可悲的。 来自辞典例句

9 horrified   

a.(表现出)恐惧的

参考例句：

• The whole country was horrified by the killings. 全国都对这些凶杀案感到大为震惊。
• We were horrified at the conditions prevailing in local prisons. 地方监狱的普遍状况让我们震惊。

10 orphaned   

[计][修]孤立

参考例句：

• Orphaned children were consigned to institutions. 孤儿都打发到了福利院。
• He was orphaned at an early age. 他幼年时便成了孤儿。

11 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。